


Electives

by floatingaway4



Category: Red White & Royal Blue - Casey McQuiston
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Drabble, Established Relationship, M/M, fake legal mumbo jumbo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:55:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26305210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/floatingaway4/pseuds/floatingaway4
Summary: Henry hangs up his jacket and sits at the kitchen island, watching Alex bounce nervously on his toes. He truly can’t imagine anything Alex could do that would make him angry, but Alex seems to need to explain himself.
Relationships: Alex Claremont-Diaz/Henry Fox-Mountchristen-Windsor
Comments: 32
Kudos: 255





	Electives

“Okay, don’t be mad.” 

Henry stops in the entryway and tilts his head at Alex. “All right.” 

“You know I have to take this contracts class.” 

Henry nods. He’d been there when Alex signed up for his required first year classes. Henry knows contract law isn’t Alex’s favorite topic but he just has to get through it so he can focus on civil rights courses later on. 

“I was confused by this one concept and the fucking textbooks weren’t helping so I thought maybe if I could see how it was written in a real contract, if might help me get it.” 

Henry hangs up his jacket and sits at the kitchen island, watching Alex bounce nervously on his toes. He truly can’t imagine anything Alex could do that would make him angry, but Alex seems to need to explain himself. He notices a familiar thick sheaf of papers laying on the island. 

Alex says the next part so quickly Henry has to replay it in his head to make sense of it. “So I went in your filing cabinet, which I shouldn’t have done without asking, and I got your contract with Pez that let you take over the shelters.” 

Henry is no less confused. “Alex, what’s mine is yours. Why would I be--” Henry shakes his head. “Nothing in there is meant to be a secret from you, love.” He takes Alex’s hands. “Was it helpful?”

Alex breathes a sigh of relief. “Huh? Oh, no. The thing I was looking for wasn’t in here.” Alex reaches for the thick document, which he has flipped to somewhere in the middle, and points to a small section buried there. “But I still thought it would be helpful for me to go over it and make sure I understood it. So when I was reading through it, I found…” He taps the page and watches Henry’s face. “Is this what I think it is?” 

Henry looks over, quite unnecessarily, and smiles. “What do you think it is?” 

Alex is peering at him suspiciously. “I mean, the language is vague and confusing, even for a legal document. And I don’t really get a couple of these terms, but there were a few other British legal terms in here I’m not familiar with either.” He points to the blue sticky notes on the page. 

Henry grins at him. “Vague and confusing was the end goal, so I’m glad that was successful. And it took a team of lawyers to come up with that, so as a first year student, you shouldn’t feel bad.” 

Alex tilts his head uncertainly. “So I’m right.” 

Henry shrugs. “Probably. You haven’t told me what you think it is.” 

Alex crosses his arms, jutting a hip into the edge of the island. “I think it’s a clause that lets you keep managing the shelters even if you abdicate.” 

“Well, _I_ think,” Henry says with that sly, cocky smile Alex loves, “you’re doing rather well in contract law.” He walks to the refrigerator, grabs a bottle of water, and sits back down. 

Alex is still staring at him. “You...you were really going to...you _planned_ for it?” 

Henry stares at him, confused. “Alex, you knew that.” 

Alex shakes his head. “No, I mean, you said it when you were fighting with Philip but…”

Henry gestures broadly with the bottle in his hand. “It was….a backup plan, but it was never an empty threat.” 

“But H, that’s, that’s crazy.” He steps over and covers Henry’s hands with his. “That’s your whole life, your fucking identity, your family. You were gonna give all that up for--” 

Henry turns his hands over so they’re holding Alex’s. “Darling, _you_ are my life, and my family now. Given the choice between my title and you, a title isn’t all that much to give up. But I still wanted to make a difference in the world.” He leans in and kisses Alex with so much certainty, it leaves him breathless. “I was never going to let you go, but I also didn’t want to let them take my work away from me.” 

Alex remembers telling his mother he felt forever about this man. He thinks about standing in front of television cameras and telling the world how he felt about this man. But Henry, Henry had done this major thing quietly in a conference room somewhere. For him. He launches himself at Henry, who holds him and drops kisses in his hair. 

“Seriously, love. Did you really think I’d be upset with you?” 

Alex shrugs. “I don’t want to mess this up.” 

Henry holds Alex’s face between his hands and pushes him away just a little, so he can look into his eyes. “You won’t." He shakes his head. "You can’t. You're stuck with me, I'm afraid.” 

Henry's face is tender and honest and so sincere, Alex could almost cry. He sniffs and shakes his head. “How about I make dinner as an apology for the thing you’re not mad at me about?” Alex offers. 

Henry rolls his eyes but smiles. “Your dad’s enchiladas?” 

“Yeah, I think we have all the stuff.” He starts moving around the kitchen. “Can you find a good playlist?” 

Henry nods and leans on the island, scrolling through his phone. He glances over at Alex’s three ring binder, still on the island next to the contract. He flips idly through it, looking at the syllabi for his other classes. “Alex, when did you sign up for international law? I thought that was an elective?”

“When I realized that one day I might end up practicing in London. I mean, I know you’re planning to be here long term, but shit happens.” He drops the tortillas on the counter and comes over to wrap his arms around Henry again. “And I am never doing long-distance again, babe.” It’s Alex’s turn to give Henry a wicked, confident grin. “You’re not the only one with a backup plan.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Everyone here has tabs open for Burberry Mens clothing, the NYU law school curriculum, and royal protocol...right? No? Just me?


End file.
